What is the ruling on borrowing or receiving a gift from someone whose money or food is predominantly unlawful? الاستدانة أوالهدية ممن يغلب على كسبه الحرام

Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and his companions.

To proceed:

Unlawful wealth is of either two cases:
First: Wealth that is unlawful in nature like that which is stolen, seized, etc. It is not permissible to deal with the one who has this type of wealth, whether by contracting with him, exchanging, accepting a gift or otherwise because this wealth is unlawful in itself. However it is permissible to take it, if one wants to return it to its rightful owner.
Second: Wealth that is unlawful because of the way it was earned, like money that is derived from interest or forbidden transactions. There are two scholarly opinions regarding this type of wealth. There are those that say it is not permissible to deal with money, and others who say it is permissible to deal with this type of money according to a narration that the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) dealt with the Jews despite the fact that they eat unlawful things and most of their money is interest-related. What is also used to deduce the permissibility of dealing with this type of money isa hadith transmitted by AdulRazaq on the authority of IbnMas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) who said that: “A man asked him: I have a neighbour who eats interest and he keeps on calling me to eat his food, he (IbnMas’ud) responded: accept it and the sin is on him.” In Jaami’ al-‘Uloomwa al-Hukm, Ibn Rajab transmitted that Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) graded this hadith as authentic.

Your brother,

Dr. Khalid al-Mosleh

11 / 11 / 1424 AH